Since I feel like love should never fail, my deepest love is for my children who I have nurtured throughout their entire lives and have loved unconditionally. Some love has failed me and I was forced to move on. I love my family and friends also but it is a different kind of love to me.
Don´t know if i loved well, i just loved, no matter what. First, my parents; later my friends and loved ones and many dear kindred hearts along the path of life. Most probably, this was not obvious, as fear, shyness, bashfulness and withdrawal were the reactive strategies to outer circumstances, when for a long time I thought I could not love at all. But today i know, i do – as well as being able to let it be free, still (my) love does not diminish and never did; it was my hurt feeling, my refusing being vulnerable, reactive pride, “me” who wanted things different in order to feel being loved in return. The challenge was to allow being completely vulnerable, which has been refused due to deep seated existential fear based on too early imprints to know. Today there is a hunch that Love is, in me as well as in every living being. Thank you, dear friends, a huge lot.
Hmmm, I feel like I’m getting better at it as
I go along. With every disappointment,
with every trauma, every loss, I am more
attuned to empathy and love.
Like Kevin I don’t think of rating or ranking my love. If I’m honest, though, I acknowledge that at times I’ve felt less than loving in some way: The love is there but it’s accompanied by irritation or judgment or something else, or I’m observing myself and the moment in some way.
Thinking of times when I’ve felt pure, deep, unadulterated love I think of moments with my husband, having my babies placed in my arms after they were born, watching my daughters perform (both are talented singers and one majored in musical theater), holding my mom on a visit not long before her death and feeling her relax in my hug and realizing how starved for touch she must be in the dementia facility where she had to live. Moments that were not at all about me and whether I was loving in some describable way.
My reflection will be a bit weird. When this question arises, I often think of the song in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Do I love him?
I think when I love really well, I do the ordinary in a special way and be thankful for ALL of life. The duality of life makes it worthwhile.
I believe I love “really well” (whatever that means) all the time. I don’t take love or granted nor do I give it without thinking. Of course, I love my husband and family …..and then I do not think that there is an animal that I could not love. Sometimes, loving our fellow man is not easy- but I try.
I truly don’t know. I find it hard to put a measurement on love. I’ve share my poem on the word LOVE before but for those who may not have seen it, I share it again.
Love is a word in Hip Hop Oct 2009
By Carol Ann Conner
Love is a word. We say it a lot.
misuse it, abuse it, forsake it for naught.
It’s sometimes a verb with feelings deferred.
We love this, love that, it’s frankly absurd.
It’s often a noun, subjective in sound
objective in speech, a wailing, a screech for attention.
It can be a farce, filled with remorse,
love-feast, love-sick, love affair, divorce.
But when cupid’s dart touches my heart,
it lovingly starts a revolution of sorts.
But, true love’s illusive, inclusive and rare,
deliberate, decisive, egoistically-bare to the bone
Yes, love is a word that we need make flesh
a vulnerable stance, a powerful chance to make a difference.
My thoughts go to the love that my lovely Cheryl and I share. Our marriage of 35.5 years has withstood much. Like some trees in the wind that bend but manage not to break during the storm. Some do. Others do not. So far, our love for each other, love of our children and grandchildren, our love for our extended families has weathered deaths, suicide, births, accomplishments, joy and addiction along the myriad of other life events. Our mutual love of the earth and its wonders has helped too.
Yes, Kevin this question’s ending “really well” does seem to quantify love and sounds slightly self-promoting. True and pure love needs no quantification.
By meditating many times a day for the last three years more more light shows up to reveal truth which is of course love . I think by becoming peaceful myself I can understand what true love means. When I first saw this question I thought of the typical answer of husband and wife or mother and children, parents and their children.
Love is bigger than just me, myself and my loved ones .
As a teacher for many years I felt that kids were mine too. All humans are our family members. In fact we are all one and seeing that from the universe view is a closer to what love truly is. It doesn’t distinguish or discriminate. Nature flow is open. Nature gives with her entire heart and doesn’t discriminate..
so I’m doing my best to be like nature which is pure love.
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Since I feel like love should never fail, my deepest love is for my children who I have nurtured throughout their entire lives and have loved unconditionally. Some love has failed me and I was forced to move on. I love my family and friends also but it is a different kind of love to me.
Don´t know if i loved well, i just loved, no matter what. First, my parents; later my friends and loved ones and many dear kindred hearts along the path of life. Most probably, this was not obvious, as fear, shyness, bashfulness and withdrawal were the reactive strategies to outer circumstances, when for a long time I thought I could not love at all. But today i know, i do – as well as being able to let it be free, still (my) love does not diminish and never did; it was my hurt feeling, my refusing being vulnerable, reactive pride, “me” who wanted things different in order to feel being loved in return. The challenge was to allow being completely vulnerable, which has been refused due to deep seated existential fear based on too early imprints to know. Today there is a hunch that Love is, in me as well as in every living being. Thank you, dear friends, a huge lot.
When the love is directed towards humanity. Not towards money or material things, but towards the essence of who I am.
Hmmm, I feel like I’m getting better at it as
I go along. With every disappointment,
with every trauma, every loss, I am more
attuned to empathy and love.
Raising my five beautiful children.
Like Kevin I don’t think of rating or ranking my love. If I’m honest, though, I acknowledge that at times I’ve felt less than loving in some way: The love is there but it’s accompanied by irritation or judgment or something else, or I’m observing myself and the moment in some way.
Thinking of times when I’ve felt pure, deep, unadulterated love I think of moments with my husband, having my babies placed in my arms after they were born, watching my daughters perform (both are talented singers and one majored in musical theater), holding my mom on a visit not long before her death and feeling her relax in my hug and realizing how starved for touch she must be in the dementia facility where she had to live. Moments that were not at all about me and whether I was loving in some describable way.
My reflection will be a bit weird. When this question arises, I often think of the song in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Do I love him?
I think when I love really well, I do the ordinary in a special way and be thankful for ALL of life. The duality of life makes it worthwhile.
I grew up listening to 8 track of Fiddler On The Roof – love it.
I believe I love “really well” (whatever that means) all the time. I don’t take love or granted nor do I give it without thinking. Of course, I love my husband and family …..and then I do not think that there is an animal that I could not love. Sometimes, loving our fellow man is not easy- but I try.
I have loved really well in all my relationships.
I truly don’t know. I find it hard to put a measurement on love. I’ve share my poem on the word LOVE before but for those who may not have seen it, I share it again.
Love is a word in Hip Hop Oct 2009
By Carol Ann Conner
Love is a word. We say it a lot.
misuse it, abuse it, forsake it for naught.
It’s sometimes a verb with feelings deferred.
We love this, love that, it’s frankly absurd.
It’s often a noun, subjective in sound
objective in speech, a wailing, a screech for attention.
It can be a farce, filled with remorse,
love-feast, love-sick, love affair, divorce.
But when cupid’s dart touches my heart,
it lovingly starts a revolution of sorts.
But, true love’s illusive, inclusive and rare,
deliberate, decisive, egoistically-bare to the bone
Yes, love is a word that we need make flesh
a vulnerable stance, a powerful chance to make a difference.
I believe that I have loved “really well” all the time 🙂
Probably a time when I had no thought of how well I was loving but was completely focused on the well being of the other person.
My thoughts go to the love that my lovely Cheryl and I share. Our marriage of 35.5 years has withstood much. Like some trees in the wind that bend but manage not to break during the storm. Some do. Others do not. So far, our love for each other, love of our children and grandchildren, our love for our extended families has weathered deaths, suicide, births, accomplishments, joy and addiction along the myriad of other life events. Our mutual love of the earth and its wonders has helped too.
Beautifully expressed, Joseph!!
Love, in all its forms, is central to my life, but quantifying love would never be a goal of mine.
Yes, Kevin this question’s ending “really well” does seem to quantify love and sounds slightly self-promoting. True and pure love needs no quantification.
Your “True and pure love needs no quantification” response, Joseph, is perfectly stated, or at least to me it is! My very best to you my friend.
By meditating many times a day for the last three years more more light shows up to reveal truth which is of course love . I think by becoming peaceful myself I can understand what true love means. When I first saw this question I thought of the typical answer of husband and wife or mother and children, parents and their children.
Love is bigger than just me, myself and my loved ones .
As a teacher for many years I felt that kids were mine too. All humans are our family members. In fact we are all one and seeing that from the universe view is a closer to what love truly is. It doesn’t distinguish or discriminate. Nature flow is open. Nature gives with her entire heart and doesn’t discriminate..
so I’m doing my best to be like nature which is pure love.
Antoinette, Beautifully said.
It would be nice Antoinette, if your reflection on love could and would be read by all world leaders and then taken to heart and spirit.